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NBC Unable to Shake Slide in Ratings
Wall Street Journal ^ | October 24, 2011 | Sam Schechner and Lauren A.E. Schuker

Posted on 10/23/2011 6:58:43 PM PDT by Zakeet

NBC's downward slide is getting steeper.

Long a ratings laggard, the network has fallen further behind its competitors this fall, heightening the challenge facing its new owner Comcast Corp. as it works to mount a turnaround.

Through the first four weeks of the TV season ending Oct. 16, about 3.3 million adults under 50 years old have been watching prime-time TV shows on NBC, according to the latest figures from Nielsen Holdings NV. That is down 9.3% from the same period a year earlier. Much of the decline is concentrated in NBC's entertainment shows.

Leaving out National Football League games, which NBC airs on Sunday nights, the network's 18-to-49-year-old audience is 2.2 million—down 16% from a year earlier. That demographic is the audience group most valued by advertisers.

Among the shows demonstrating particularly severe declines are long-running programs like "Law & Order: SVU" and "The Biggest Loser," each of which lost one of its stars. The 18-to-49-year-old audiences for those shows have fallen 20% to 3.4 million and 23% to 3 million, respectively, this season compared to last season, according to Nielsen.

Competitors are faring better. Through four weeks, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC is down 5.8% among viewers 18-to-49 in prime-time, CBS Corp.'s eponymous network is down 2.3% and News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting is up 11%, according to the latest Nielsen data. (News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.)

[Snip]

To help combat the slide, NBC also has been bulking up with news, one of the few areas where it is still dominant, notably with "Today" and "NBC Nightly News." Next week, the network will launch a new prime-time news magazine called "Rock Center With Brian Williams."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: mediabias; msm; nbc; ratings
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To: KarlInOhio
find->fine

Eye Cannes knot spill weal. :-(

21 posted on 10/23/2011 8:03:47 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Compare "Delay is preferable to error" - Thomas Jefferson // "Pass this bill now!" - Barack Obama)
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To: Zakeet

National Barack Channel?


22 posted on 10/23/2011 8:06:12 PM PDT by Tzimisce (Never forget that the American Revolution began when the British tried to disarm the colonists.)
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To: Zakeet

Brian Williams bowing to Obama

23 posted on 10/23/2011 8:11:19 PM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: Zakeet; abb; weegee

Just when you thought dumbed-down nuz couldn't get any dumber.

24 posted on 10/23/2011 8:21:41 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Zakeet.
...has fallen further behind its competitors this fall, heightening the challenge facing its new owner Comcast Corp.
No problem, Comcast will just suck everyone back in to NBC with promises of promotional rates during a trial period, then raise the 'normal' rates to recover the money 'lost' from the promo discount. Oh wait...


25 posted on 10/23/2011 8:42:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: KarlInOhio
“Free Agents was so bad that I couldn't even finish the first episode.”

I enjoy the original UK version on BBC-America. I wasn't aware that there was a USA version until a couple weeks ago - after it had been canceled.

I tried watching The Office this season...what drivel. The last couple years with Carell were trending downward, now it's just plain bad.

26 posted on 10/23/2011 8:44:25 PM PDT by GOPsterinMA (And who doesn't have baggage?)
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To: Huskrrrr

Mmmm! Roast velociraptor! They’re now officially extinct.


27 posted on 10/23/2011 8:53:38 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch ("Public service" does NOT mean servicing the people, like a bull among heifers.)
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To: Zakeet
Photobucket
28 posted on 10/23/2011 9:30:03 PM PDT by baddog 219
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To: Zakeet

Just think, they were at the top in the 1980’s during the Brandon Tartikoff era. I remember such great shows like The A-Team, Knightrider, ALF, Family Ties, Cosby, etc.


29 posted on 10/23/2011 9:33:39 PM PDT by Nowhere Man ("People should not fear their government, their government should fear the people." - V for Vendetta)
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To: LostInBayport

I could not believe it when I saw that “lean forward” slogan. So they are so frikked up they can’t tell the difference between left and forward??


30 posted on 10/23/2011 10:26:08 PM PDT by GnuHere
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To: GnuHere
Maybe it's time for NBC’s parent company GE to come to the rescue and stop the decline. This can be a test case for the 27 member ‘brain trust’ to restore employment and productivity that Barry put together. Barry and GE CEO Jeffery Immelt are thicker than flies on a fresh dung pile — an ideal way for Jeffery to demonstrate is ‘generalship’ shills in snatching victory from defeat. (Sound of crickets chirping.)
31 posted on 10/24/2011 5:04:40 AM PDT by MasterGunner01 (To err is human; to forgive is not our policy. -- SEAL Team SIX)
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To: Zakeet

fox is advertising a cartoon about a boy who is being raised by a homosexual father and his sex partner de jour.

look like it is time for a down swing there.

The nets USED to be family safe areas on the dial. Instead we have shock value and freak shows.


32 posted on 10/24/2011 7:35:55 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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